VGA to HDMI

Now I understand that you cannot convert VGA to HDMI without some sort of adapter, because one is analogue and one is digital. A friend of mine however has a cable that goes directly from VGA to HDMI, and he gave it to me. When plugged in it doesn't do anything obviously because the data types are different. So my question is, what's the point in having a cable like that anyway? Why would it be manufactured.

Cables like that generally have an adapter built in. As to why it didn't work I cannot speculate.

I don't think that a thin cable like that could probably house an adaptor. And what's the point in a cable like that if it won't even transmit audio, because VGA won't transmit audio, and there's no audio jack coming out either.

Usually these adapters are a single chip, housed in one connector of the cable.

I see, and do you have any ideas about the setup? At the moment I've taken a netbook, plugged in the VGA side to it, and then the HDMI into the TV in the HDMI 1 slot. Then going to the HDMI 1 on the TV, nothing is viewing. Any idea?